While it’s a generalization, that’s an unfortunate truth. You’ll have to remember that a majority of RPG fandom is male. And sex sells. Female personas have to look good to be memorable. The chainmail bikini helps.

Generally, female fantasy costumes of that nature have no true function. They don’t protect against the elements. It’s not comfortable – scale and chainmail can pinch the skin and snag hair unless there’s cloth padding (or the female shaves certain… areas). They provide no armor value whatsoever (exposed thighs and abdomens being a favorite theme for females).

It’s there to make the male gawk and go “Yep. That’s a babe.”

—

Despite my preachings of course, I am a guy, and while I believe that such attire is non-functional, I will also be the first to admit that it IS nice to look at.

Player Character: An imaginary creation which thinks the world revolves around it, when in fact the world really revolves around the DM’s storyline. Brings about as much harmony to the table as an air horn brings to a symphony.

Well, I liked the look of the chainmail bikini…I’ve usually used a variantion thereof, like a druid being in a hide bikini, or a rogue in a leather catsuit. So it’s not just the guys who propagate the stereotype, I mean look at Xena, am I the only one who watched that show and saw that the more Gabrielle became a hero, the less clothes she was wearing? Until she was wearing less than Xena? So yeah…just my 2 cents, and on a side note….Can I have your baby Seamus?! You rock!

Chainmail bikinis can’t be that bad, there’s no shortage of real girls that wear them to SCA events and Conventions. But I don’t think they’re wearing them to turn aside sword cuts. Just the opposite, in some cases…

Clearly Aragorn’s player has been in too many classic Gary Gygax modules, where the appearance of a buxom blonde was invariably followed by the party’s gruesome demise – whether the blonde herself was a succubus, rakshasa, doppelganger or other shapeshifter, or just an agent of evil determined to betray the party at her earliest opportunity.

Perhaps being an English major, a shoe salesman and a hardcore grognard didn’t earn Gary a lot of popularity with the ladies, and he was a tad bitter?

Comments about making Helms Deep-style scenery out of Lego gave me the germ of an idea for DMotR. Have the story at some point in an elaborate set (I would say Gondor but the only PC who gets to go there before the wheels come off has already left to play either Star Wars or Mech Warrior) roughly transition from in-story scenery to DVD-extra “behind the scenes” footage of the same thing under construction. When the players do a “What the Heck?”, have the DM explain that they have to use some imagination, there being only so much that can be achieved with Lego, egg-cartons and stacks of unused dice. Then transition back into the film footage for the sarcastic punchlines.

Steve.

PS I was at I-Con over the weekend and picked up some new dice. Feeling I hadn’t been entirely fair, I swallowed deeply and added an orange D20 to the collection.

It is still the most hideous thing I have seen in lo these many years, and nowhere near as clear to read as the white, yellow or blue D20’s I bought at the same time.

Despite all the chain mail bikinis seen at the Ren Faire & in spite of all my encouragement (ie pleading), my wife still won’t wear one…unless (she claims) I develop the body that allows me to wear the barbarian loin-cloth…

Re to Mysti:
one, The less you were, the lees you are gonna be hit.
Thus, the chainmail bikini.
Two, Muchken(sp) Was a vary good Game.
I know i cant spell, That Good old retatard(sp) classes for you
Rain Out!

As another female gamer who played about half male and half female characters, my females always wore armor — real armor — thanks very much. [eyeroll] And the young women who wear chainmail bikinis or whatever to cons and Faire and SCA events aren’t expecting to fight in it; it has quite a different purpose.

These are the same kinds of women who take their lives in their hands dancing in four inch spike heels because they attract guys. They’re the same kinds of women who corsetted themselves down to 15 inches in the 19th century, or had their floating ribs surgically removed in the very early 20th (back when anesthetics sucked, remember, and surgical patients still had a decent chance of dying of infection). You’ll always find a minority who are willing to put up with pain, discomfort and even mutilation for the sake of being “attractive.” But let’s not pretend it’s at all functional, or that anything close to all women are interested in that sort of thing.

I’ve been following this for a while, and I just wanted to speak up and say how utterly, utterly awesome it is. Especially this one, which is hysterical! I wonder if the DM will ever learn to specify gender in his character descriptions?

“I wonder if the DM will ever learn to specify gender in his character descriptions?”

Probably not. The default gender in RPGs seems to be male. Unless stated otherwise, NPCs are male when brought to the player’s attention. Sometimes, the descriptor gives away the gender (ex. witch, sorceress, queen) but otherwise you tend to assume it’s male.

With elves… well, you can never be too sure. Even when you think they’re male… they may be… not… male.

Ahem.

Still trying to get Aragorn’s frozen expression out of my mind. When movement gets frozen into a single image like that, you start to lose context pf the original situation. Something Shamus seems to be a master of manipulating. ^_^

“Generally, female fantasy costumes of that nature have no true function.”

Au contraire! “Sonja tosses aside her cloak, revealing the mighty chain mail bikini, an item of wonderous enchantment. Her opponent gawks, fixated on the flimsy, yet oh so shiny garment; only then notices the hilt sticking out from his chest. His eyes bug out even farther, then cloud over…”

Just to blow my own horn a bit with regards to the whole chainmail bikini debate, I’d like to point out that there are some of us guys who do make a point of having female characters wear something practical. In City of Heroes (to jump genres) you have an entire category of costume options not available to men- all of them being variants on the standard outfit but showing lots of bare skin. There’s also three options for skirts- upper thigh, mid thigh, and schoolmarm (ankle-length with a petticoat underneath). I can quite proudly claim that my one female character there has foregone all the above in favor of heavy leathers, and while she does have high heels (the only option with the sort of boot I wanted) I’ve made it a point that she doesn’t actually walk on them- she specifically has a power to allow her to remain stable in the shoes, and glide along on a field of mystic energy.

It’s also worth noting that I decided on this outfit after seeing a typical miniskirt-and-cutouts heroine get knocked flat while adventuring in the sewers. I figure it’s bad enough you have to wade through that stuff, getting it inside your costume is -not- an option.

“Probably not. The default gender in RPGs seems to be male. Unless stated otherwise, NPCs are male when brought to the player's attention.”

Oh yeah, I remember bringing that to my husband/GM’s attention.
“It’s too bad there are no women in your world.”
“What?! There are plenty of women!”
“Really? How many of the named NPCs we’ve met in the last 3 months were female?”
“… There was that hag you fought…”
After that, every 5th or 10th NPC was described with “Oh, and they’re FEMALE”. I always thanked him for making the effort. ;)

I believe that only stupid people use those “revealing” clothing. Some people (girls) actually have brains. The stupid ones who do are as before mentioned, stupid. They have no point. If you were going to a DANGEROUS place, it would at least be a BIT smart to bring true armor. Many people won’t be distracted by that kind of thing anyways. You have to be practical. Also, there are many people who feel the same way as me.

Especially in medieval fantasy games, women in general have been depicted as either helpless and shapely, or sexy and shapely””distressed gentlewomen to be rescued or tavern wenches to be wenched with. Another common depiction of female characters, and perhaps the most disturbing to dedicated female gamers, is the warrior woman in a “chainmail bikini”””an under-dressed fighter who seems more intent on wielding her breasts and buttocks than her broadsword. Although the 3rd edition AD&D handbooks, as well as the current books of many other games, picture females more sensibly dressed and occupied in game-related activities, thirty years of subservience and cheesecake have left their mark on women's and men's perceptions of gaming and on male/female RPG interactions.

PS-I’m a guy, and it’s hilarious strips like this that remind me why I stopped playing D&D.

And on a semi-related note…. I for one, am a big supporter of women in chain mail skirts, leather skirts, plate mail bras…. and well… I guess I’m a fan of scantily clad women in general, style and materials be damned.

Oh, wow. For the win. Standalone, this strip is great — I would so love someone to show the Aragorn actor panels 6 & 7 — but coming after previous strips (not only Legolass, but also how “yellow-haired and fair” is of COURSE all the Aragorn-player needs to hear to think it’s a woman. As inhttp://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=951 (“Overly Requited Love”)

I wonder how many of the authors of the vehement anti-chainmail bikini posts would be equally disparaging of the loin-cloth and capes the Spartans in 300 wore? (As opposed to their nice shiny almost Iron-age armor.)

“Here’s my character portrait.”
“”
“She’s got bracers of armor and a ring of warmth. She’s a wizard.”

I’m not so much defending the image as deriding the criticism itself, which is extremely one-sided. In fact, you might say it’s sexist.
There’s also the image of the hulking barbarian with the fur loin cloth in a tundra, but few people seem to complain about that, ignoring the fact that in reality they had layers of skins and decent armor, in favour of oiled pecs and eight-packs. I think it’s because the guys don’t mind – it’s “macho”.

1) my top is NOT lined and doesn’t need to be, the weave is thick and tight so no seeing through and no pinchin because it’s woven in a pyramid shape and so folds away from the skin.

2) It’s aluminum so it doesn’t get hot or cold, it stays at body temp. (It is a bit chilly first thing in the morning, though)

3) I don’t do it because I’m, “These are the same kinds of women who take their lives in their hands dancing in four inch spike heels because they attract guys. They're the same kinds of women who corsetted themselves down to 15 inches in the 19th century, or had their floating ribs surgically removed in the very early 20th (back when anesthetics sucked, remember, and surgical patients still had a decent chance of dying of infection). You'll always find a minority who are willing to put up with pain, discomfort and even mutilation for the sake of being “attractive.”” I do it because I actually like my body and don’t always feel a need to hide to hide it. I eat well, work hard, and hate high heels. If I could get away with it I’d wear it more often, not less. It’s comfy, frankly.

4)I was already engaged when I started to wear the chainmail, and am now married and still like the mail.

5) It has no armor value at all. Which is why none of my characters would ever wear it in game.

dillochan brings up a point I’d been avoiding vocalizing, as I’m a guy…

If you’ve got it, flaunt it. My friends and I regularly hit the gym – I’ve yet to see a guy who’s got the body avoid wearing tight clothing. My other group of friends (all overweight, some grossly) all tend to wear loose t-shirts and the like, while my gym friends enjoy showing off their six-packs. (Personally I’m not over weight but I don’t have abs, so I wear tight shirts but won’t take’em off…)

Now, keeping in mind we’re not really dealing with /practicality/ here, as I doubt anyone thinks a chain mail bikini is protective, but if it was possible, my friends probably would wander about in loin-clothes at ren faires carrying big ass weapons – ’cause they CAN, and they know they look good doing so. And I’ve always assumed that about the people who dress up, be it chain mail bikinis or 6 inch heels – they do it because they can carry it off.

I confess, when people complain, I tend to become very curious as to their own build.